GAME DAY - GAME 2 - Toronto Maple Leafs vs Ottawa Senators - (BRODIE: STOP BULLYING ME!) - 2021

LINEUPS FROM YESTERDAY:

I would guess (and probably be wrong) Wolanin will come out for Reilly and Anisimov for White. Can't really think of much else Smith might do.

Brady Tkachuk-Josh Norris-Drake Batherson
Tim Stuetzle-Derek Stepan-Evgenii Dadonov
Nick Paul-Chris Tierney-Connor Brown
Cedric Paquette-Artem Anisimov-Austin Watson

Thomas Chabot-Erik Gudbranson
Christian Wolanin-Nikita Zaitsev
Braydon Coburn-Josh Brown

Goalies
Matt Murray-Marcus Hogberg

vs

Thornton-Matthews-Marner
Nylander-Tavares-Vesey
Mikheyev-Kerfoot-Hyman
Barabanov-Spezza-Simmonds

Rielly-Brodie
Muzzin-Holl
Dermott-Bogosian
Sandin-Lehtonen

Andersen
Campbell

Takeaways from yesterday:

- Zaitsev started off a giveaway machine and then suddenly woke up and found himself in the center of a Sens win.

- Wolanin looked like he hadn't played in...over a year

- Too many guys carried the load, but honorable mentions to: Paul, Norris, Batherson, Tkachuk the Bully, Stepan, Tierney, J Brown, Gudbranson, C Brown

- Stutzle made his debut, but wasn't deployed on the PP or PK, so didn't get a chance to really shine. A couple of nifty plays from the 19 year old and no real lapses at all. Played just over 12 minutes with 1 shot

- Coburn looked solid. Hard to believe...but it's true. Him, Brown and Gudbranson are big, mobile dudes. They have to play nasty to be effective - and they did last night.

- Austin Watson is a big pain in the arse. Scored a nice goal, but was central to a lot of Leaf miseries last night. Only credited with 1 hit in 12 minutes, but he was everywhere.

- Tkachuk is a true power forward. We knew this, but he toyed with Brodie in front of the net like a human would play with a cat. Just...messed with him. Also pummeled Tavares in the 2nd.

- Congrats to Matt Murray on his first win. He was there when he was needed.

- Batherson looks like the real deal.


Okay, so that's over with. I full expect to be spanked tonight. We're a blue collar team and we work hard obviously, but there is a LOT of skill over on the blue side. However...you never know!

I would imagine Simmonds drops 'em tonight - likely with Watson or Brown.

Anytime you beat the Leafs, it feels good man.


The Leafs played like absolute trash, it was great to see.

I fully expected them to split the opening series. I've been much more optimistic of the chances than pretty much everyone else (except maybe Grapes - a bit surprising, but he said the Sens will be a hard team to play); but even I find it improbable that they pull off a sweep. Here's hoping they don't get dummied tonight.

Batherson was great last game. Curious to see if he can bring it in back to backs. Keep that forward progress going

White in for anisimov

Stützle not getting much ice time. Dadonov not really doing much to help him out.

wprager wrote:Stützle not getting much ice time. Dadonov not really doing much to help him out.

He’s playing a regular shift with stepan and Dadonov

Both games, I can't remember the Sens winning a single defensive zone faceoff.

Ev wrote:

wprager wrote:Stützle not getting much ice time. Dadonov not really doing much to help him out.

He’s playing a regular shift with stepan and Dadonov

Weird. He's got more ice time then Tkachuk. Just didn't "feel" like it.

Murray playing really well. As expected sens aren’t as good as yesterday

Josh Brown is trash

Stutzle should be on the pp

DefenceWinsChampionships wrote:Josh Brown is trash

Disagree. Been a fan of his game through two games so far, very steady and physical and can skate well. Stutzle caused the last penalty. To be expected from him, will take some time to get settled. Didn’t think we’d win tonight so not even upset.

Only positive tonight is Murray. Very solid overall, not much fault expect for Thornton’s goal. Sens might not play for a bit if Winnipeg can’t play this week